Xelhuan (MH536r)

Xelhuan (MH536r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing is the simplex glyph for the personal name Xelhuan (or Xelhua, seen both ways). The glyph consists of five upright, narrow rectangles, connected at the base with a horizontal line. Here, it is attested here as a man’s name. He is apparently named after a figure in Nahua origin stories. The upright rectangles may have something to do with object that are being distributed (relating to the verb, xeloa). These also appear to be numerical markers, such as the Macuil glyph, below.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Xelhua or Xelhuan was the name of a a figure who has been interpreted as a mythical giant, prince, or "deity," the son of Ilancueitl, and someone active in the Tehuacan Valley. [See Emily Umberger, "Aztec Presence and Material Remains in the Outer Provinces," in Aztec Imperial Strategies, ed. Frances Berdan (1996, 170).] Our Online Nahuatl Dictionary also reports that Xelhuan was the name of: "a Nonoalca Chichimeca who settled in Tula with three other Nonoalcas and four Tolteca Chichimecas, according to the Historia Tolteca Chichimeca or Anales de Cuauhtinchan."

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

diego xelhuā

Gloss Normalization: 

Diego Xelhuan

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
verb
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
rectangular
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

divide, dividir, distribute, distribuir, ones, unos, counters, marcadores

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

Xelhuan, name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xelhuan
xeloa, to divide or distribute, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xeloa

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Él Que Distribuye Cosas (_)

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 536r, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=151&st=image

Image Source, Rights: 

This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Xelhuan (MH536r)

Macuil (MH570v)

Ilancueitl (TR29v)